In my opinion, I totally disagree with the author. He says that people have small impact to what is happening to our world. If people from all over the world put hand on hand and decided to do the "little things", the amount of CO2 will climb down dramatically. I don’t say that the government shouldn't do anything about, they should and I think they are. I am talking about our government; they are trying to reduce their carbon footprint by setting penalties to those who don’t adhere to the rules, and by building cool cities, like Masdar City. They are trying, but most of the effort must come from the people, not the government.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Conclusion ( The Last Post )
In my opinion, I totally disagree with the author. He says that people have small impact to what is happening to our world. If people from all over the world put hand on hand and decided to do the "little things", the amount of CO2 will climb down dramatically. I don’t say that the government shouldn't do anything about, they should and I think they are. I am talking about our government; they are trying to reduce their carbon footprint by setting penalties to those who don’t adhere to the rules, and by building cool cities, like Masdar City. They are trying, but most of the effort must come from the people, not the government.
Cool Cities (SDSJ)
One Planet Living
If everyone lived like an average North American we would need 5 planets.
If everyone lived like an average European we would need 3 planets.
If everyone lived like an average Emirati we would need 7 planets.
Our global footprint grew by 150% between 1961 and 2003. It is now 25% above the planet's biological capacity to support life on earth.
The WWF has developed an initiative called One Planet Living. It has ten guiding principles.
Masdar is going to be developed using these principles:
Zero Carbon: As a result of the increasing rate of CO2, our climate is changing.
Zero Waste: Products that are thrown away creates wastes and those wastes can create disposal problems and wastes valuable resources.
Sustainable Transport: When people travel by air or car, it participates in climate change and noise pollution.
Local and Sustainable Materials: The usage of destructive resources can escalate environmental damage.
Local and sustainable food: Unknown food quality and the harms of local system are all produced by the industrial agriculture.
Sustainable Water:Because of the pollution and the disruption of hydrological cycles, local resources of fresh water are not enough.
Natural Habitats and Wildlife: the over usage of natural supplies and the development of some natural locations have lost biodivesify.
Culture and heritage: As a result of globalization, local culture and heritage is being lost.
Equity and Fair Trade: Some people are living in poverty while some people can’t meet their basic needs.
Health and happiness: As a result of the increasing depart of wealth, health and happiness, questions are being raised.
I think that Masdar City will find difficulties in having a zero carbon.
The benefits and goals of the one planet living is:
1. “Build a world-wide network of One Planet Living Communities and other exemplary projects to demonstrate One Planet Living in action.”
2. “Establish One Planet Living Centres in each One Planet Living community as a focus for education.”
3. “Promote the imperative for One Planet Living and its guiding principles to catalyse change with governments, business and individuals.”
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Why I would like to live in Masdar city.
Is Abu Dhabi a Cool City?
P & S: How to reduce our carbon foot print?
There are several important problems that can lead to gigantic carbon foot prints. One of the main problems is that we don't recycle. Recycling is an important factor that effects global warming. We can recycle papers, empty plastic bottles and cans. Another important problem is traveling. People, especially in the Middle East, travel a lot. In the winter and summer, the trips to countries double which means the airplanes burn gas which eventually, lead to big carbon foot prints. The last problem that I will discuss is energy consumption. We use a lot of energy either water or electricity which can leave behind big carbon foot prints.
For every problem in the world, there are solutions. One of the main solutions that can be applied is reducing the energy consumption. We can reduce it by simply turning off the lights when getting out of the room and close the water tap when unneeded. Another good solution that we can do is using alternative means of transportations that doesn't send out C02 to the air like bicycles or scooters. The last solution is that we could eat less meat. The lesser meat we eat the less we leave behind us big carbon foot prints.
In conclusion, it is not too late for us to change, if we follow the suggested solutions we could reduce our carbon foot print dramatically.
American Cool Cities
There are many American cities that became "Cool Cities". I will state 10 American cities that became cool cities and what they are doing to reduce their carbon foot prints. The cities are:
1. Seattle: They reduced global warming pollution by more than 60 percent by constructing green buildings and operating alternative fuel vehicles.
2. Washington DC: DC has replaced 414 of its polluting diesel buses with buses that burn natural gases.
3. Houston: convert a substantial portion of the city of fleet of cars and trucks.
4. Marion County/Florida: they use gas-electric hybrid vehicles.
5. The city of Scottsdale: has introduced Arizona’s first green building program which helps builders and home owners learn about how to integrate energy efficiency and water saving.
6. Salt Lake City: they changed 861 traffic lights to LED light signals.
7. Colorado: is working to produce 50 percent of the city electricity with renewable energy by 2017.
8. Charlotte: they switched from a gas only Ford Taurus to a hybrid Toyota Prius or Honda Civic and that would save city taxpayers approximately $800-1200 per vehicle including over $400 in annual fuel cost.
9. Twin Falls/ Idaho: Reduce energy cost and cut pollution by increasing the energy efficiency of its 11 schools.
10. St. Paul: they use a system that uses heat drawn from a biomass-fired power plant.